Two recent events in the US vividly illustrate the growing centrality of gender pay equity issues. On one side of the ledger, in early April 2018, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in Rizo v. Fresno County Office of Education, held that an employee’s prior salary—either alone or in a combination of factors—cannot be used to justify paying women less than men in comparable jobs. On the other side of the ledger, the US Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, on April 20, 2018, announced that it is upending standards implemented during President Obama’s administration designed to promote gender pay equity among federal contractors. Under this new policy, employers will be able to decide for themselves how their employees should be categorized and analyzed for purposes of fair pay investigations by the government.

These two US events are merely the latest examples of increased activity around the globe with regard to the issue of pay equity. Click here to read more.

Despite the longstanding nature of equal pay and pay equity legislation in Canada, on average, women still earn less than men. The Ontario Government and the Federal Government recently took steps aimed at improving women’s equality in the workforce and addressing the gender pay gap in these jurisdictions.

Click here to download the full report, which includes helpful information on how employers can prepare for Ontario’s upcoming Pay Transparency Act.

As efforts to narrow the gender pay gap intensify across the globe, we launch the first article in our new series. Click the photo below to read the article,which provides an overview of the international picture.

Our colleagues gave guests an inside look at sociopolitical trends driving employment law change in each of their respective countries, as well as sharing important updates related to practical issues employers are currently facing.

On April 9, 2018, the Ninth Circuit issued its decision in Rizo v. Yovino and affirmed that prior salary, alone or in combination with other factors, cannot justify a wage differential between male and female employees. Judge Stephen Reinhardt, who died unexpectedly in late March, authored the ruling. Known as the “Liberal Lion” of the federal judiciary in California, Judge Reinhardt also overturned bans on same-sex marriage and physician-assisted suicide and declared prison overcrowding unconstitutional.

We are pleased to present The Global Employer Magazine 2018 Horizon Scanner. Our easy-to-digest overview of global and regional trends and developments in global employer and labor law is designed to help equip you for the year ahead.

In this issue, we feature:

A global overview of the key trends and developments impacting global employers including nationalism and mobility, the gender pay gap, the rise of the modern workforce

Regional checklists for the year ahead and data privacy compliance

Regional outlooks looking at how the trending global employment law issues are playing out across Asia Pacific, EMEA, Latin America and North America

Join us for a breakfast briefing on March 27 in Palo Alto for an update on the latest trends and regulations impacting multinational employers in Latin America. Hear from leading practitioners in five key LATAM jurisdictions – Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela – as we address hot topics that employers are facing right now including:

Managing a modern workforce, from contingent workers to outsourcing service models

Jordan Kirkness and Susan MacMillan in our Toronto office report that the government of Ontario announced yesterday that it will introduce new legislation to require certain employers to track and publish their compensation information.

The proposed legislation is part of the province’s initiative to advance women’s economic status and create more equitable workplaces (the initiative is titled “Then Now Next: Ontario’s Strategy for Women’s Economic Empowerment”). Yesterday’s announcement comes on the heels of last week’s budget plan in which the Canadian federal government outlined proposed proactive pay equity legislation that would apply to federally regulated employers — see here for our article on the proposed federal legislation.

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